Emacs website, Lisp, and other

[Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>]

> Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2024 at 7:09 AM
> From: "Jeremy Bryant" <jb@jeremybryant.net>
> To: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org, rms@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Emacs website, Lisp, and other
>
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
> >> From: Jeremy Bryant <jb@jeremybryant.net>
> >> Date: Sun, 04 Aug 2024 23:27:39 +0100
> >>
> >> Reviewing the Emacs website, and previous discussions on this list below
> >> (admittedly not recent, but still relevant).  It seems important to add
> >> some text on Lisp which is not currently there, as per ideas of RMS and
> >> Eli summarised below.
> >
> > Why is this important?
>
> It appeared to be an outstanding documentation item to add to the
> website, using the summary text written from RMS.
>
> I personally believe it is important and useful in the context of an
> introduction to Emacs such as the website.  For new users, or indeed
> new contributors, Emacs Lisp may appear an intriguing choice, and that
> summary offers a compelling reason for Lisp.

The negative effects of children requiring compelling reasons to
engage in activities are evident. This mindset reduces their
willingness to explore, as they become driven by adult-directed
incentives.  Many foundational skills and knowledge areas, which require
time and effort to master without immediate rewards, are neglected,
limiting their exposure to new ideas and skills.

The dependence on external motivation, leads to a lack of intrinsic drive
and the ability to pursue goals independently. Avoiding challenging
tasks without clear rewards hinders resilience and coping skills, essential
for handling life's difficulties.

Additionally, a constant need for compelling reasons fosters a short-term
mindset, impairing their ability to set and achieve long-term goals both
academically and personally.


> >> What do people think?
> >
> > I think it's a relatively minor issue, not worth arguing about.  But
> > it looks like we are up for such a discussion anyway...
>
> Right, it may not be an issue at all -- up to you -- only a suggestion for
> documentation improvement.
>
> Emacs supports many languages, and on this is getting better thanks to eglot,
> tree-sitter etc.
>
> I thought the thread implicitly related to Emacs Lisp.  As the elisp manual says:
> "The great power of the Lisp language makes it ideal for
> other purposes as well, such as writing editing commands."
>
> I should apologise as my initial thread was in retrospect too short on
> context.  It wasn't meant to start a sort of flamewar, sorry it has
> caused you to respond to many tangents.
>
>
>
>
>